'Salvage City' Plunders Urban Wasteland

Premiering Sunday, December 22, the new Discovery Channel series follows a salvage crew as it breaks into abandoned buildings and rescues historic treasures doomed for a landfill and transforms them into timeless pieces coveted by collectors.

St. Louis has been on the world stage for centuries. But after industry left the city, many of the city's once-thriving factory and warehouse districts became Rust Belt boneyards. For Sam Coffey and his salvage crew, this urban wasteland is a goldmine ripe for plunder. Coffee and his crew break into abandoned buildings and rescue historic treasures doomed for a landfill and transform them into timeless pieces coveted by collectors in "Salvage City," premiering on Discovery with three back-to-back episodes beginning Sunday, December 22 at 11 AM ET/PT.

Coffey, a St. Louis native, works hard to preserve the heritage of his hometown, even at the risk of arrest or great bodily harm. With his wisecracking junkyard giant Chris Trotter, designer/business partner Mia Brown, and his loyal German Shepard Hektor by his side, anything is possible. After years of carving out a reputation as a master carpenter and earning local fame exploring a network of caves beneath St. Louis where brewers like Anheuser Busch used to store their beer, Coffey turned his passions into a business, The Factory, where the "Salvage City" crew transform items salvaged from abandoned buildings into unique industrial art pieces and furnishings.

"Salvage City" episodes will include:

"This City Is a Gold Mine"

Coffey and his salvage crew explore an abandoned, decaying burlesque theater, a World War II-era manufacturing plant turned crack house and a vacant turn-of-the-century automotive showroom. Later at The Factory, the crew tries to transform a looted bowling pinsetter and a giant distilled water tank into big profit.

"Sexy Time/Business Time"

The crew raids Trotter's grandparents' neighborhood, grabbing historic treasures from St. Louis' segregation era, including a birthing sink from one of the city's first African-American hospitals and a chandelier from a seminal jazz and blues club.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth"

Coffey and Trotter hope for their biggest take yet in a massive six million square foot abandoned sand mine. The mine flooded after it was abandoned in the 1980s, leaving historic treasures hidden deep underwater. The crew builds a custom pirate salvage boat and Coffey, Trotter and Hektor descend into the underground.

"Salvage City" is produced for Discovery Channel by Coolfire Originals in association with No Coast Originals. Executive producers for the series are Jeff Keane, Steve Luebbert and Tim Breitbach from Coolfire, Jon Maurice, Brad Carsten and Charlie Smith from No Coast, and Lasta Drachkovitch. Sean Boyle is executive producer for Discovery Channel.